After you’ve created your user account, you’ll be able to submit Ping requests to local businesses. Need more information about what that means? … no problem, this How To will tell you all about Pings, from a User perspective.’
What is a Ping?
A Ping is a request to book the business.
It’s important to understand that a Ping Request is just that – a request. You must wait for the vendor to Accept the request before the appointment is officially booked.
Finding Local Businesses to Ping
You can view Plethora’s full list of available local professionals on the Home screen. You can switch the view to see these as a list, or a map. To switch between the views, tap the switcher on the top right corner.
Viewing additional Vendor’s Details
You can view additional details about the vendor by tapping on the View Details button if you’re on the map view, or by tapping on the arrow to the right of the vendor’s name if you’re in the list view.
The Vendor Details screen shows all of the information about the selected vendor, including their current address, schedule, social media and website links, and description.
You can also view (and create) Reviews about the vendor here.
Pressing on View Services or View Menu will show additional photos or files that the vendor wishes to share with you.
There are two metrics you can view here –
Total Pings shows the total number of pings that this vendor has received, from all Users.
Ping Response Time shows the average amount of time that it takes this business to respond to the incoming Ping Requests.
Pinging the Vendor
If you’d like to create an appointment with this vendor, tap the Ping button.
Some of your information, such as your name, phone number, and address, will already be populated for you based on your Profile. However, if you’d like to change the name on the appointment, or its location, you may do so here.
Some vendors have custom questions that they would like to ask. In our demo, the vendor has asked Please describe the project? You’ll need to respond to all of the vendor’s questions.
You are then asked to select from Ping ASAP or Future. Note that based on the vendor settings, you may not see both of these options.
Ping ASAP – this means you’d like the business to come as soon as possible.
Ping Future – these are appointment requests for a certain date and time.
Lastly, you’ll need to enter your Plethora Passcode. This was the 4-digit code you created when you set up your Profile. If you don’t remember the passcode, you can view it on your Profile – just click Settings and then View Profile. The passcode helps prevent accidental pings.
Troubleshooting:
I can’t ping a vendor! If you pressed on the Ping button, but it shows that the vendor is not accepting pings, this could be because of the way they’ve set up their account. Further, food vendors only accept Catering requests, and not single-order delivery requests.
I Submitted My Ping – Now What?
Now that your Ping has been submitted, you will need to wait for the vendor to Approve the request. Once accepted, you will receive a Notification on your phone. Then, your appointment is officially booked and the vendor will come to the requested location at the desired date & time.
Troubleshooting:
Not receiving push notifications on your phone? If you’re certain that the vendor has responded, and you still did not receive the notification, you should ensure Notifications are enabled in Plethora’s Settings. If you still are not receiving them, you may need to update your phone’s settings to “allow notifications” from Plethora. To find out how to do this on Apple, click here. For Android, click here.
Check out some other topics in our How To series: